The Wretched of the Earth

Although socialism has seemingly collapsed in the years since Fanon's work was first published, there is much in his look into the political, racial, and social psyche of the ever-emerging Third World that still rings true at the cusp of a new century. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

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Romanticizing the rural mass and then marginalizing their ability to coherently rule themselves, Fanon justifies propagandistic manipulation, nationalized education and infrastructure, marginalization of ethnicity and cultural diversity; essentialy what he advocates is the construction of a technocracy that garbs itself in "revolutionary" euphemisms and uses the rural quantity as a check on the independence and economic and educational flexibility of urbanized elites. My professor saw my perspective as skewed, and perhaps it is.

At any rate, given my suspicions about the ends Fanon sees as his structure, I consequently have contempt for his reasoning enunciating violence. First, he eloquently and passionately illustrates the techniques of imperialism in subjugating the colonized. This is his book's greatest strength; however, many readers enamored of this aspect seem incapable of critiquing the rest of the book.

From his economic and social analysis of colonialism, Fanon is able to racialize a state of conflict between the oppressed and oppressor. This constructs social identity in a way that is useful for his arguments for violence. What would be called indiscriminate terrorism in many contexts becomes logically justified by Fanon's racial construct. It is the artifice of identity based on race that allows the justification of violence perpetrated on the basis of being black or white.

Some would argue that despite Fanon's racialization of the conflict, Fanon always sees it as an economic relationship. Thus, his justification of attack on the urban black and the acceptance of the sympathetic white makes sense. Others would argue that this is just a bone thrown to the theorists that ultimately means nothing to the application of violence. I, however, see it as a verbose argument for terrorism committed on black people without removing the racism from his theory. In essence it is a smokescreen for calling the urban black pursuing economic security as an "oreo." Thus terrorism committed on the independent shopkeeper is an attack on the proxy of the white man; while the white sympathizer is a propaganda tool.

In essence, Fanon's theory is a justification for violence based on race; and for the control of people through propaganda and terror while spouting democratic themes. In practice we see this sort of technique used by regimes that prey on their own people and finance their repression with drug smuggling and corruption (re: Myanmar, FARC, the Taleban).

If you read Fanon and find this sort of thing making sense, take a good long look in the mirror. It is important to at least be honest with yourself before becoming enmired in hypocrisy. Fanon clearly despised himself; unfortunately he transferred that emotion onto an entire society.


The truth is here   October 18, 2001
nadav haber (jerusalem Israel)
47 out of 67 found this review helpful

Reading this amazing book in 2001, the first fact that blew my mind was how relevant this book is in today's world, even though it was written in 1961.
This book is an attempt at understanding the processes of decolonialization, and offering a constructive way to make this process successful and meaningful. Seemingly, it has only historic value in today's decolonized world. But as I read the book, from its beginning to its end, I could not help finding parallels to many current world issues. Wherever there is a situation of oppressed groups trying to put an end to their oppression - the words of Fanon are relevant and enlightening.

Fanon helped me understand the attitudes of the oppressed (found today mainly in Africa and Asia), and the pitfalls of the national liberation struggles. Reading this book explained why so many countries replaced colonialism with corrupt dictatorships.

This book shows that Fanon is one of the sharpest and most truthful intelectuals of the 20th century.

I know I did not manage to convey the full impact this book had on me. The impact may become clear when I say that this book must be translated to every language, taught in every high school system, and discussed at every academic and political level.


Fanon Does Not Glorify Violence! (and Other Corrections)   July 12, 2003
33 out of 41 found this review helpful

Those reviews that castigate Fanon for "glorifying violence" ought to be ignored. Fanon is writing, among other things, a phenomenology of anti-colonialism. It is meant neither as a recommendation nor a condemnation but as a description of the objective truth of a historical condition. That is, for Fanon reverse racist violent nationalism is a stage in the emergence of a political consiciousness that will eventually overcome and, indeed, renounce its own beginnings. What is remarkable is that people at present are so manifestly incapable of reading a dialctical unfolding such as this. The violence of the Algerian War had already largely taken place at the time of Fanon's writing and, let it be recalled, it was primarily the murder of Algerians by the French, for whom African imperialism is still a profitable if somewhat unsavory business.
While Fanon tracks the stages in the evolution of a radical anti-capitalist consciousness in the underdeveloped world, there is no question of his endorsing or advocating violence. One has only to read the final chapter on the psychological effects on both the colonizer and the colonized to see that Fanon is acutely aware of the brutality for all concerned of the Algerian War, even or, indeed, especially, for the oppressors themselves. There is certainly no question of his endorsing the indiscriminate horrors committed that were committed by the FLN against their oppressors.
The other thing, of course, that the petulant, anti-intellectual, ahistorical reactionaries who have shared their opinions here conveniently ignore is the violence inherent in the settler colonialism Fanon was addressing. As for the comparison with India, it is indeed illuminating, and one might profitably develop Fanon into a critique of the post-colonial India elite. After all, the real thrust of the book is its attempt to push anti-imperialism in a genuinely democratic direction, insofar as this was even possible for a largely peasant agricultural society caught within a much larger capitalist cosmos. At any rate, contra one reviewer, in the much-vaunted democracy of India, were peasants substantially liberated by the Indian National Congress from their indebtedness and from coercive labor practices? For his part, Fanon is not content with such liberal eye-wash as the talk of "Indian democracy" achieved through non-violence. In stark contrast to many other romantic commentators, he is keenly aware that there is nothing save radical democratic organized politics that can prevent post-colonial societies from a descent into poverty, despair, and the reactionary resurgence of "leadership" and virulently post-traditional "ethnicities" and "religiosities" though, in the face of the further defeat of the radical left in the West, most likely there is nothing to prevent the implosion of the Third World and the exhaustion (and extermination) of progressive energies there. Pages 95ff. in which Fanon discusses the terrible brutality of the very attempt to create industrialism in a country such as Algeria, and the awful irony of "independence" from the wealth of the colonizer are powerful and utterly ignored by most "radicals" who refuse to see that the resources already exist for the world to enjoy both opulence and sustainability.
Another thing - Fanon is inconceivable without Marxism. It informs his every argument, even if his point is only to criticize actually existing Marxisms. Therefore, the claim that "Fanon is great, except for the Marxist bit" is absurd and puerile. The real problem is that that entire intellectual language and with it the vast majority of the history of 20th century social hope is being actively forgotten. The nuances of so much of Fanon lies in the way he handles, refashions, and pushes up against the limits of the Marxian legacy as it came to him. (The idea that Fanon is a "genius" and that there are none else like him is similarly an indication of a tragic social and political amnesia, and this is not meant to detract in the slightest from the incredible achievement that is both this work and youthful masterwork "Black Skins, White Masks").
Finally, to uncritically drag Fanon into the American context, as some other reviewers want to do, is, it seems to me, potentially extremely misleading. Far more so than "Black Skins," "Wretched" is a book of its time and place. Certainly, any comparison with Malcolm X, who was no leftist and certainly no Marxist, is hopelessly misguided. Never mind the fact that Fanon's project of a liberated Algeria can scarcely be compared with the project of black American radical activists. American blacks were not colonized but forcibly transported and enslaved. More importantly, American blacks live within the heart of capitalism and Fanon's recommendation to the New World descendents of slaves would never be so crackpot as a separatist black nationalism.
There are many good grounds for criticizing Fanon, but since few reviewers seem capable of even approaching those matters, a more basic commentary seemed necessary.


Another Che Guevara   January 31, 2006
Elijah Chingosho (Nairobi, Kenya)
29 out of 32 found this review helpful

Frantz Fanon is a great Pan-African writer and theorist. He was a psychiatrist who was born in Martinique in the West Indies in 1925. He is one of the foremost writers and intellectuals on black liberation from racial oppression and revolutionary armed struggle. Fanon was not just an armchair theorist with an incisive mind but a practical man who elected to get involved in the fight for freedom in the Algerian war of independence. He participated in the Algerian Liberation movement, the FLN, in the Algerian war of independence against the French in the 1950s.

Fanon's thinking was influenced by his analysis of testimonies that he got from Algerian and French patients that he treated during the Algerian war that had been traumatized by the war. The testimonies included the French troops and police torturing innocent civilians, mass killings and assassinations and rapes of defenseless men, women and children.

The Wretched of the Earth is a classic book written in the Communist framework that analyses the psychology of colonized people and eloquently explains their anger and frustration. He explains the techniques that imperialists use to subjugate the colonized peoples. Fanon discusses the social and economic basis of colonialism. He highlights the willingness of colonial powers to use violence, their attack on African culture and way of life, among other things. He concluded that violence was the only way to free the oppressed people. His views are in direct contrast to those of another great historical icon, Gandhi, who preached non-violent means to end oppression. The "Wretched of the Earth" has been very influential to all the subsequent liberation wars on the African continent, the civil rights movement and black consciousness movements worldwide.

Fanon was very prophetic as he attached post independence disenfranchisement of the masses by the ruling elites as well as tribal or religious clashes. Leaders of the newly liberated nations would have done well to heed in advice and avoid corruption and violence against their own peoples. He saw the need for a liberated country to have a national culture and national identity to ensure that there is unity that welds the nation together against various forces bend on its destruction.

Although Marxism has largely collapsed worldwide, this book is recommended reading for anyone wishing to learn about colonialism and its impact in Africa. The book now has an important historical value in the current largely decolonized world. The book will help the reader understand how revolutionary movements worldwide have justified the use of violence to achieve their ends. Readers from countries where the people are oppressed and wish to put an end to their plight may find this book to be still very relevant and enlightening.





The authority on Colonialism   May 26, 2000
smahadin@hotmail.com (Jordan)
22 out of 28 found this review helpful

Fanon is among the few thinkers who successfully wrote about emerging post-colonial nation-states. Many prefer to delve into the psychological implications of his work but I would rather view it as a warning againt the new tyranny that has its roots in the national struggle. Indeed, many nationalist movements became the new proxy for the departing colonial power thus ignoring the fact that fighters do not by default make good politicans. The dicourse of national struggle became the harbinger of the national dictatorship despite the evidence pointing to the outskirts and villages as being the impetus behind the drive for independence and not the educated classes as many claimed. I am not claiming that national struggle is bad but it has to be viewd objectively and its role must therefore end with independence to allow for genuine restructuring or else a political neo-imperialism emerges to replace direct military colonization. In both cases the winner is the colonizer who has returned in the form of the new nationl government mainly those who were educated in the West during colonization.